AMD HD7000 series or GTX580 Matrix

R

Rossi~

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Hi peeps.

I have an eShopping Basket full of glorious upgrades for my PC but it's sitting there because i was waiting for information on the rumoured early bunch of HD7000 series cards, most likely the 78** leaving the real deal 79** until Q1 2012.
My question is. Wait some more or go with an Asus GTX580 Matrix that i can get a good deal on at the moment?
As you know, these cards are beasts and overclock beautifully. Will AMD compete well with this on their early stuff, assuming it does happen of course. I know it's only speculation and guess work at the moment but i'd like opinions. I've been doing this enough to know that if you wait for the next best thing you'll be waiting forever but if the rumours are correct, it's just around the corner..

Rest of rig in sig, will be gaming at 1080p or 1200 depending on what monitors, and i'm playing Deus Ex HR at the moment, pre-ordered BF3 and will get Skyrim when it's out. Also, i upgrade graphics cards usually no later than 2 years, so it'll be with me for at least a year no more than 2.

TIA for your thoughts.
 
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If you can wait for 3 months or more, then wait, but if you have the money, spend it. :)
There will be no single gpu, next generation card faster than a Matrix for a good while, at least till next summer, and they also will be dual gpu cards.

I don't think your cpu can push much more gpu than that anyway.
 
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I'm waiting, but then I don't see any good deals on a GTX580 (just rip off prices) and a GTX580 is no faster than my 2x5870 anyway.
 
happymedium said:
If you can wait for 3 months or more, then wait, but if you have the money, spend it. :)
There will be no next generation card faster than a Matrix for a good while, at least 6 to 9 months and they also will be dual gpu cards.
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You already know how fast the ATI 7xxx series single GPU cards are going to be? What's your source?
 
Gnasher said:
You already know how fast the ATI 7xxx series single GPU cards are going to be? What's your source?
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I will cut off my right arm if they can beat 2 fully clocked gtx580 gpu's. That would be 117% faster than a flagship 6970, which is nearly impossible and has never been done.
The best you could ask for would be 6990 performance from a 7970.
His cpu would not push more gpu power than that anyway and he's is dangerously close to gpu overkill at his resolution also.
 
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happymedium said:
If you can wait for 3 months or more, then wait, but if you have the money, spend it. :)
There will be no single gpu, next generation card faster than a Matrix for a good while, at least till next summer, and they also will be dual gpu cards.

I don't think your cpu can push much more gpu than that anyway.
Click to expand...

happymedium said:
I will cut off my right arm if they can beat 2 fully clocked gtx580 gpu's. That would be 117% faster than a flagship 6970, which is nearly impossible and has never been done.
The best you could ask for would be 6990 performance from a 7970.
His cpu would not push more gpu power than that anyway and he's is dangerously close to gpu overkill at his resolution also.
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Matrix is a single GPU card. Why would they have to beat 2 of them in order to be faster? Or, are you confusing the Matrix with the Mars II?
 
An AMD CEO has said the 7k series will be out in Q4 2010 so you should see some cards ...soon..ish..give or take a month or two...or three.

The 7k series is also suppose to be made with 28nm technology so they can literately fit just over double the silicon in the same space. So we might see a 220% performance of the 6k series in the 7k series if more silicon scaled linearly -- but -- realistically it will not. So potentially 'up to 220%' but likely much less. It depends though because the GPU is being redesigned for the 'GPU Core-Next' which throws a bit of a wild card/wrench into any 'guestimations' which is at best all we have to go on.

It's probably a bit of a bad idea to buy a GTX580 so 'late' into the product's lifecycle with a die shrink around the corner. Last die shrink was the considerable/noticeable difference from the 4k to 5k series. 6k just being a refinement using the same die processs as the 5k.
 
The problem with waiting is, i am playing Deus Ex HR at the moment and i am a massive fan of the Deus Ex series and wanted to play it maxed out to really feel the most of the game. Also, would really like to kick off BF3 at speed and quality. If the next cards are beginning of October then fine i may as well wait, but if it ends up being December i'm going to be slightly annoyed waiting.

I think i've answered my own question really, i currently own a GTX470 and it's not enough to play the games i have at the quality i want and BF3 is on the horizon. If in doubt, i could get another GTX580 down the line on the cheap when people sell theirs off for the GTX600 next spring/summer just to hold on another year, there is always that possibility. I have a quality 1000W PSU on my list for this current upgrade so that'll be fine for SLi if needed down the line.
 
Rossi have you considered just getting another 470? Two of those should out do a 580 with no issue and you are not dumping $500 on a upgrade. Probably can get one on the FS section for like $150. With next gen cards coming soon I do not think it is worthwhile spending that much especially when this current gen is more of a refresh from the previous one.
 
xBanzai89 said:
Rossi have you considered just getting another 470? Two of those should out do a 580 with no issue and you are not dumping $500 on a upgrade. Probably can get one on the FS section for like $150. With next gen cards coming soon I do not think it is worthwhile spending that much especially when this current gen is more of a refresh from the previous one.
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that is a good suggestion. a 470 to a 580 isnt as big of a boost in performance as adding another 470.

then you can re-evaluate when the 7000's and 600's come out.
 
Indeed. I realize the that 580 Matrix was a godly overclocker, but those 470s were known to overclock too.
 
xBanzai89 said:
Rossi have you considered just getting another 470? Two of those should out do a 580 with no issue and you are not dumping $500 on a upgrade. Probably can get one on the FS section for like $150. With next gen cards coming soon I do not think it is worthwhile spending that much especially when this current gen is more of a refresh from the previous one.
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^ This is a pretty good idea for not much additional cost.
 
I have considered another 470, but i cannot put up with the noise to be honest, it's got worse over time i swear and one of the main reasons of upgrading is to get it quiet, one of the upgrades i'm doing along with the graphics is the case to an NZXT H2 and a heap of quiet fans.
As for overclocking the 470, i can't get my current one (ASUS) higher than 760-ish on the core, it just isn't stable unless i pump the ful 1.087v into it, which would get me around 775Mhz, just isn't worth it. I've tried it in other PCs too but it just won't go any further.
Also i have planned to sell it to a friend who really needs a cheap upgrade (he has a GTS250..).
 
Ah yes that is reasonable of course. If you get that Matrix to 1GHz it will be a sizable upgrade at least.
 
The 580 Matrix, like the 5870 Matrix before it, looks to be a great card.

I have a friend who owns a 2 GB 5870 Matrix and even if it's last gen, the thing is awesome, overclocked quite a bit above 1ghz, and stays under 78C.

So to me "last generation" mature manufacturing process cards with high quality components definitely have their place too!
 
Matrix is a single GPU card. Why would they have to beat 2 of them in order to be faster? Or, are you confusing the Matrix with the Mars II?



Yes I was.....sorry guys.
 
I have a separate question. Do nVidia cards still idle at 3d clocks with 2 monitors? Or have they fixed that now? If not is there a work around so it idles at it's 2d profile?
 
That's_Corporate said:
your card is getting louder most likely due to dust buildup
a simple fix
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I have dust filters and i air dust my PC once a month for the dust that does get into the case. It's not that. Regardless of which it wasn't the quietest card in the first place.
 
happymedium said:
I will cut off my right arm if they can beat 2 fully clocked gtx580 gpu's.
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Oh, I thought the Matrix card was just a single GPU and didn't know it was a dual GPU card. Wait, just saw someone post it is a single GPU so I expect a single GPU 7xxx series card will beat it. Like I said, I think it is wise to wait and see at this point in the game.
 
Rossi~ said:
I have dust filters and i air dust my PC once a month for the dust that does get into the case. It's not that. Regardless of which it wasn't the quietest card in the first place.
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i'm in the same boat

then i opened up my card and was surprised at how much dust was caked onto the heat sink
 
After investigating further regarding the case and my motherboard and the Matrix card, i'm going to need a single slot card solution in addition to support the extra monitors (not surround). Any suggestions? Doesn't have to be powerful and the quieter the better, just has to be able to run 2 monitors at 1080p via DVI. I was thinking a 9600GT?
Reason for the single slot is because the Asus P6T Deluxe has the PCI-E x1 slot at the top instead of the x16 slot, making the spacing for the matrix a slight annoyance.

Edit:
Another question, more important i think. It's been a while since i've had multiple monitors on a gaming PC, a few years a go i had 2 monitors and gaming was a pain because i couldn't get games to lock fullscreen on the primary monitor and the mouse used to go over to the second screen, really annoying... Is this still the case today? Or has nVidia drivers/game developers solved this?
 
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Rossi~ said:
After investigating further regarding the case and my motherboard and the Matrix card, i'm going to need a single slot card solution in addition to support the extra monitors (not surround). Any suggestions? Doesn't have to be powerful and the quieter the better, just has to be able to run 2 monitors at 1080p via DVI. I was thinking a 9600GT?
Reason for the single slot is because the Asus P6T Deluxe has the PCI-E x1 slot at the top instead of the x16 slot, making the spacing for the matrix a slight annoyance.

Edit:
Another question, more important i think. It's been a while since i've had multiple monitors on a gaming PC, a few years a go i had 2 monitors and gaming was a pain because i couldn't get games to lock fullscreen on the primary monitor and the mouse used to go over to the second screen, really annoying... Is this still the case today? Or has nVidia drivers/game developers solved this?
Click to expand...

I used to run 2x 9600GT in SLI a few years ago. Single slot, they work, good for working with 2 monitors, but don't expect to game on it anymore. There is just not enough hoursepower in that card anymore to consistently stay above 30FPS in medium settings in most games. 512meg keeps the resolutions low. SLI helped, but was awful to keep working with crashes..etc.. was not pleasant. It was not a noisy card, but single slot cooler heatsinks I found out REALLY get caked with dust much faster and dual slot coolers. Had to clean them every month or 2 or temps would rise at least 5C.
 
Yakk said:
I used to run 2x 9600GT in SLI a few years ago. Single slot, they work, good for working with 2 monitors, but don't expect to game on it anymore. There is just not enough hoursepower in that card anymore to consistently stay above 30FPS in medium settings in most games. 512meg keeps the resolutions low. SLI helped, but was awful to keep working with crashes..etc.. was not pleasant. It was not a noisy card, but single slot cooler heatsinks I found out REALLY get caked with dust much faster and dual slot coolers. Had to clean them every month or 2 or temps would rise at least 5C.
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Thanks for your response. I do not plan on gaming with the 9600GT at all, just for desktop use. As for the dust, i know what you mean, we have some Mac Pros at work here with 8800GTs in them and they're the same. My case will be almost dust free due to the filters and i'm already air dusting once a month as well :)
 
I have placed my order, including the Asus GTX580 Matrix. I'm dribbling with excitement already :)
 
So i've installed the card. It's awesome, well worth the upgrade. I shoved it at 900/1800/4400 for now, it's 30 minutes Kombustor stable and have played Just Cause 2 and Deus Ex HR for a while glitch free and smooth.
It gets a bit toasty though hitting 88c in Kombustor on custom fan setting (85% fan speed, which is loud...) but the case is having airflow issues at the moment.
Scores me 73** in 3D Mark 2011
 
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I would wait till 7000 is released, then you can compare instead of estimating..
 
Rossi~ said:
I have a separate question. Do nVidia cards still idle at 3d clocks with 2 monitors? Or have they fixed that now? If not is there a work around so it idles at it's 2d profile?
Click to expand...

Still idle at higher speeds when using multiple monitors. Don't know if it's still full 3D speeds, but definitely higher than what's used for idle on single monitors by a fair amount. You might be able to mess with the different clock profiles and voltages by flashing the BIOS, but you run the risk of instability if you go too low.
 
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